Editor’s Note: Following Wednesday’s press deadline, the Ozone All-Stars beat Pineview 13-2 to force a deciding game tonight. They play for the District Championship at 6 p.m.
GASTON — The Blythewood Ozone All-Stars are taking the hard road to the Diamond Youth Baseball district title. After rebounding from a 10-inning heartbreaker in the opening round, Blythewood clawed its way back into the title game with back-to-back dominant wins, including a combined no-hitter.
Blythewood opened play on Saturday, June 13, with a marathon battle against Lexington. Blythewood jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the second inning when Tucker Shaw roped a two-run single and Andrew Campbell added an RBI hit of his own. Charlie Tolson started on the mound, striking out four over four innings.
In to relieve Tolson, Andrew Belville struck out eight and allowed only one unearned run over six innings. Despite double-digit stolen bases from the tandem of Tripp Collins and Spencer Palo, Lexington managed to tie the game in the fifth and eventually secured a 5-4 win in the 10th inning. Sam Kloke and Mayes McDaniel also had hits in the extra-inning loss.
Faced with a must-win game on Sunday, Blythewood responded by crushing Dentsville 11-2. McDaniel was untouchable on the mound, striking out nine batters and allowing no hits in three innings of work.
Blythewood racked up 10 hits from eight batters. Chase Hughes led the way with two RBIs, including a sacrifice fly and a double. Palo and Belville each collected two hits, while Shaw and Collins added RBIs during a five-run fifth inning. McDaniel, Mason Taylor, Killian Evans, and Kloke each singled.
The defense was locked in, not committing any errors in the win. Kloke threw two innings of relief, striking out two and allowed four hits and two runs. Campbell closed the door with a scoreless inning of relief, tallying two Ks.
Blythewood’s momentum rolled into Tuesday’s redemption game against Lexington. Hughes and Belville teamed up to throw a combined no-hitter in a 7-2 win.
Hughes started and went 4 1/3 innings, racking up nine strikeouts. Belville entered in relief to record the final five outs, three of them via the strikeout, to seal the no-hit bid.
McDaniel paced the offense with two hits, while Palo drove in two runs. Blythewood drew seven walks on Lexington pitchers– courtesy of Tolson, Shaw, Kloke, Campbell and Holden Ferguson. Tolson drew three of the seven.
Blythewood’s final hurdle on the road to the district title is Pineview. In the double-elimination format, Blythewood would have to defeat Pineview twice to take the title and advance to the DYB state tournament.
The teams faced off on Wednesday night, but scores were not available prior to The Voice’s press deadline. If Blythewood forced a second game, it will be played Thursday at 6:30 in Gaston.